ABSTRACT
The first mass-distributed vaccines based on mRNA technology were launched in 2021 to protect against COVID-19, sparking rumours among vaccine-critical individuals that these “new” vaccines might be more dangerous to health than other, “traditional” vaccines. Drawing on rumour theories and social cognitive perspectives, the aim of this chapter is to account for the purpose and the spreading of medical rumours that encircle mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. The following questions are asked: How are rumours concerning mRNA expressed and established? In terms of trust and distrust, what function do the rumours have? The chapter outlines as an empirical case the fast spreading of a medical journal article written by a group of infectious medicine researchers at Lund University, Sweden, that boosted an already established vaccine rumour, and it analyses Swedish-language tweets discussing mRNA vaccines posted during 2022. The chapter follows a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design consisting of an initial computational distant reading analysis based on structural topic modelling, followed by a close qualitative reading and thematic analysis of the results. The analysis shows how mRNA rumours are not primarily based on ignorance, but rather on distrust regarding the officially sanctioned, positive narrative of new vaccine technologies, expressed through what are termed counter-scientific argumentation.
